Traveling'

These past few months have been crazy. Sick family, tradeshows,
vacation and funerals. Erin and I have spent a lot of time going
south, east and everything in between. Somehow we've fit some rides
and races in here and there but the chaos is taking its toll. We need
to chill for a spell. Looking forward to a few weeks of downtime and
good ol fashioned familytime (and more riding of course). :-)

Papa chaos

Sent from my iPhone

The grand hurrah

Erin and a friend at the top of hurrah pass in Moab. We finished with
Jacobs ladder and Amasaback. Epic day!

Reset button- pushed

-mike

Papa in Moab!

We finalized our cx race and headed to Moab that night. From here, we
push the "reset" button and remind ourselves what life is really
about... Fun, biking and good friends. Here's a shot of a few of my
riding "family" that fuel my passion for knobbies and dirt.
Peace, love and endless singletrack!

-papa

Hybrid Bikes from Giant Have Arrived!

I didn't get a chance to blog much at all from Vegas this year for the 2008 Interbike Trade Show because I was too busy ordering cool new stuff. Yesterday, we received our first batch of Giant's new Hybrid Bike (The Twist Freedom DX). This bike applies electric power only when you pedal. It matches your power with its power and takes you down the road at a nice clip. There are a couple models and sizes to choose from, and 2 price points. We would love for you to stop by and check them out.

I have to be honest.. I was sceptical when I heard they were coming out, but then I had a chance to ride one in Park City a few months back. This bike is AWESOME! It definitely gives someone a valid reason to sell their car and buy a bike. Ride up to 70 miles on a charge and only feel like you pedaled around the block!

Stop by and take on for a test ride today! HELMET REQUIRED. :-)

Click here to learn more, but you MUST RIDE TO BELIEVE!

Lance Races Vegas!

He signed up and raced Crossvegas this year. Pretty much got spanked,
but looked good doing it. Team Mad Cat fielded 2 riders (Hank Mini and
myself). I didn't finish last!

Peace

Papa cat

Vegas baby

It's off to Vegas for Interbike 2008. New product, companies and eye
candy. I'll try to take some pics and post throughout the next few
days.

-papa cat

Sent from my iPhone

Healthy

So, back in July I had these weird heart palpitations and PVC's going on that the Doc couldn't explain, plus an occasional pain in my chest during higher heartrates. They did some tests and ran some numbers, checked here, checked there... nothing. The final step to make sure I wasn't having some hidden heart thing, was to schedule me for an Echocardiogram on a recumbent bike, which is attached to a table. Yesterday was the day. I showed up, they shaved my chest, plugged me into 12 wires and then 5 more for something else and then had me lay flat on my back while I pedaled a recumbent bike. It was somewhat relaxing and I thought, "wow, with one of these I could pedal myself to sleep at night!"..

At any rate, the test was 20 minutes long and the machine slowly adds resistance until I get my heartrate to 140. At that point, the table I was laying on, is supposed to rotate onto the left side while they do an Ultrasound of my heart.

10 minutes went by, then 15 etc. while I kept a steady cadence. They started getting concerned because my heartrate wasn't getting above 120 and they needed 140 for the Ultrasound to be accurate. During the last minute of the test they both stood up and said "we need you to sprint or the machine is going to shut off and we'll have to start over". The table turned at the 20 minute mark, but I was still about 130, I sprinted and finally got my heartrate to about 144. No big deal.

The nurse and the Echo specialist said that I went down in history as the only person they have seen actually beat the machine. Typically, most people get to 140 within the first 10-12 minutes.

So, test done. The nurse said that the results will officially go to the cardiologist for review, but that she thought everything looked "fabulous" in her words.

I beat the machine. Now I can go on about my training with a little peace of mind that my inner-piston is worthy of the higher RPMs.

wheels of love make the world go round.

-papa